Electronic devices are in many cases provided with one or more displays for providing visual information to users of the devices. The electronic devices can be provided with user interfaces for display on the display of the device for facilitating user interaction with, and operation of, the device via one or more user inputs. The user interfaces comprise visual elements that can be arranged in various manners on the screen and can represent, for example, executable software programs, menus including selectable menu elements indicating for example functionality or operations available to the user within programs, a state of some aspect of program or data or other function of the device, etc. User inputs such as trackpads, trackballs, mice, cursors, touch screens and multitouch screens, can provide pointer-type controls usable to adjust the position of a pointer in multiple dimensions to allow interaction with the user interface by, for example, enabling navigation through a menu, options, file systems, program shortcuts etc, and enabling selection and manipulation of visual elements and the items they represent, such as by providing user inputs to the device e.g. by using a touch-sensitive screen.
It is preferable for user interfaces to be simple enough to be intuitive to new users, while still allowing a user to perform complex actions quickly. Furthermore, with a finite amount of screen real estate available on displays for electronic devices, it is preferable for user interfaces to be able to perform their function while minimising the amount of screen space used that could otherwise be utilised for displaying content.